I've been reading about docks and quite a few members speak of using 55 gallon drums for flotation. I have not had such great luck using floating drums, short of filling them with closed cell foam (and taking out the required second mortgage to do that) they have always ended up partially filling with water. Maybe because I want to leave them in over the winter I am asking too much from the drum but after pricing the foam filled dock floats, I figure it's worth one more inquiry. BTW the floats from Menards are not foam filled.

So can someone tell me the secret to using plastic drums for dock floats?

Nothing will stick to a blue barrel especially silicone.. 3M makes a 2 part epoxy that is suppose to stick to it.. I used 3m marine grade caulk to seal my bungs its about 12-15$ a tube but very sticky and what 3m recommends (before they made this new stuff).. You could also use liquid Teflon pipe dope and tighten them down real good with a bung wrench my buddy did that on his dock almost 6 years ago and hasn't had a problem. I don't know anything about anaerobic sealers but it never popped up when I was researching how to seal polyethylen..

Just a quick search online says most anaerobic sealers won't stick to polyethylen without the use of a proper primer

Edited by Bluegillerkiller (07/01/1309:23 PM)

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I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease..

A guy I helped build a dock for the river years ago had a anaerobic polyurethane sealant that was made for plastic barrels... It was a one part and I don't think we used a primer, but we were drinking!!!

It took for ever to dry but never leaked.... Years later he sold it and bought an old metal pontoon boat deck to replace it... He said many times he wished he would not have done it.. We put air chucks in that to keep it from sinking.. About once a week he had to refill with air to push the wAter out of the pontoons..

He finally got an aluminum one that doesn't leak..

Texted him to see if be remembered what it was, but he is not sure... He thinks it can from John Deere or a fertilizer company?

I have a friend who filled some drums with styrofoam packing peanuts by stuffing them full through the bungs so they would float even if they floded because the peanuts will not let them fill up with water. He packed in as many peanuts as he could until it was tight and then emptied a can of closed cell foam crack sealant which swelled and made it pack solid. Maybe the right sealant and packing peanuts filling will be the right combination to use inexpensive drums in place of expensive foam filled floats.

Anyway, I'm on my fourth season with a floating dock made with about fifteen 55-gallon blue plastic drums. We just tightened the caps as tight as we could get them. We did line the threads with teflon tape before inserting them.

During very cold weather, I do notice that the drums suck in a little bit.

Other than that, so far, so good.

However, due to legal constraints, the blue food-grade drums are getting harder and harder to get.

I need a second dock for a pond we built last year. I'm thinking about ordering the foam blocks from Menards. Home Depot says they have them, but when I call or try to order, they don't appear to be available in our part of the US.

Great tip about the packing peanuts, my wife has been saving them for me for some time now so I went out and picked out a few different types to test and sure enough some dissolve! I wonder what else is cheap, abundant, and closed cell foam to stuff the drums with.

Surely there is a pile of something in a factory somewhere destined for the dumpster!

As I posted in another thread, I acquired a couple food grade blue barrels for my maple syrup operation. These had been used to ship butter, so you can imagine how hard to clean they were. I filled them approx 2/3 full with soap and water, and they laid in my yard for five weeks.....every day I would roll them around, and flip them end-for-end. This past weekend I drained the soapy water, and to my knowledge they hadn't leaked at all. They would swell on hot days, and contract on cooler mornings, but the bungs, which were sealed only with the rubber gasket, never leaked.

I built our dock using steel pontoons, cut in half and welded shut. It was a LONG two days here in the shop welding, pressurizing, and testing for leaks with soapy water. I sealed the outside with epoxy, so far so good. Three years in and still floating.